Jcc Gets New Cell-tower Proposals

JAMES CITY — Along with growth and modernity, better cellular-telephone service could be heading to James City County.

But first, the county is expected to sprout a few antenna towers.

Applications to erect two towers and heighten another by 30 feet have been filed, Senior County Planner Paul Holt said.

The Planning Commission is expected to consider the proposed new towers at its monthly meeting Monday. Holt said the commission might consider the height extension on the existing tower in March.

"For us, this is the first really big push in this market," said Holt, who usually oversees the application process for proposed communication towers. "James City County -- being a rural/^]suburban community -- tends to be a second-tier for these companies trying to expand their coverage area."

Voice Stream Wireless has filed an application to build a 250-foot tower in the cloverleaf interchange of Interstate 64 at Croaker Road. A tower owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation sits at the site now.

Voice Stream Wireless is also seeking to add 30 feet to its 180-foot tower north of Interstate 64 near the James City-New Kent county line.

Also under way is a plan under which Voice Stream Wireless and other companies such as Sprint, Nextell would piggyback an antenna on a proposed 165-foot tower owned by Larry Waltrip of nearby Waltrip Recycling.

The site is between the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport and Williamsburg Landing, southeast of the Route 199-Lake Powell Road intersection.

Waltrip had hoped that the plan would go before the county Planning Commission in November.

However, commission review has been pushed back monthly since then, pending state and federal certification that the plan wouldn't interfere with airplane flight patterns.

Last fall, county planning staff floated a balloon to the proposed height of the tower to test how much of an eyesore it might be from certain locations.

After complaints from residents near the proposed site, the commission suggested that Waltrip conduct another test after foliage had fallen from the trees.

Waltrip apparently never took the suggestion.

"The neighborhood thinks it would just be tragic to spoil one of the very scenic entrances to Williamsburg, Jamestown and that vicinity of College Creek," said Tim Murphy, president of the Kingspoint Homeowners Association.

"I don't think anybody has demonstrated a serious need, in terms of gaps in cell-phone coverage."

But Waltrip argues that he's conducted two balloon tests and was willing to do a third.

However, he said, his calls were never returned by the neighborhood association.

His recycling business needs the tower so trucks and employees can communicate, he said, and so do others in the area, which has no cell service.

If both towers were approved, it would bring the county's total up to about 30, Holt said.

"Technically, we're forced to allow them under federal guidelines," he said.

Anticipating the inevitable, the county Board of Supervisors began revising and amending land-use and property aesthetics ordinances in 1996 to prevent the metal giants from dominating the bucolic landscape, Holt said.

These changes include having those who seek permits to build the towers prove that other alternatives have been explored, such as attaching a needed antenna to an existing tower.

Other requirements include balloon tests and buffering new towers with trees and wooded areas.